News Archives for June 2010

Corsair today unveiled its new Professional Series Gold range of power supplies. The Professional Series consists of three models, the AX1200, AX850 and AX750, with 1200W, 850W and 750W ratings respectively as the names suggest. All models have exceeded 80 PLUS GOLD certification, and can deliver 90% efficiency at 50% load with an 115V AC input. This coupled with an advanced cooling design enables quiet and efficient performance. The Professional Series Gold PSUs are fully-modular allowing easy cable management, improved airflow and reduced clutter. All models can sustain their rated outputs at an ambient temperature of up to 50°C, meaning excellent reliability for high-performance applications, such as gaming. The Corsair Professional Series Gold PSUs will be backed by a seven year warranty. Corsair has not yet announced when the new series will be available for purchase.

With Computex now underway in Taipei we're starting to see coverage coming back with new product reports from companies such as ASUS. OCZ and Corsair. In video today's roundup includes reviews on a Radeon HD 5830 card from XFX, a look at overclocking one of NVIDIA's latest GTX 465 cards as well as a TV tuner card from Elgato. There's plenty more from around the web to get your week started off, so be sure to read all the reviews by hitting the links below.

The joint project between AMD and an Abu Dhabi investment group, Globalfoundries Inc., is looking to expand and increase its chip making capacity. Still trailing Taiwan Semiconductor by a large margin, the company views this as a smart move. Demand shows no sign of decreasing, and a little extra competition in this sector couldn't hurt. The $6 billion that will be spent for this upgrade will be focused at the Dresden, Germany and upstate New York plants. The recent surge in demand for tablet PCs is helping to drive demand for build-to-order chip makers.

Qualcomm has announced that the Snapdragon processor, featured in popular mobile devices such as the Nexus One and Droid Incredible, will be getting a dual-core upgrade. The processor will have speeds up to 1.2GHz, greater than the current chips 1GHz. It is unknown when the chips will make an appearance on the market, but companies have already begun to develop products around the chip. The new chips will increase performance in media applications and will allow for 1080p video and 1280x800 screen resolutions. There will be two versions of the new chip, each geared toward a different wireless network type.

E Ink, the company behind the screens of the same name, has shown off some new displays that are brighter, crisper, and apparently more flexible. The displays are all currently prototypes and the flagship model of those promises crisper and brighter colors. Now, the display is still not a full color screen but it instead has a filter applied on top of the black and white E Ink panel to make the colors brighter and deeper. Another display shown off was "fully flexible" though it could not display color. Yet another display could even display Flash video though E Ink was not letting anyone take video of it in action. Like I said, all of these displays are still prototypes so time will tell before any of them show up in e-readers.

Panasonic has shown off its new point and shoot camera today, the FX75, and it sounds like a very good option if you are in the market for a new camera. The camera packs a 14.1 megapixel sensor, a 24mm ultra wide-angle F2.2 lens with 5X optical zoom, and HD video recording capabilities. The HD video is recorded in the AVCHD Lite format though you also have the option to record in Motion JPEG, WVGA, and VGA. The FX75 also has intelligent picture processing options as well to help make the shots the best they can be. On the back you will find a 3 inch touchscreen that has a pretty nifty touch-to-focus function that I hope shows up on more cameras.

No word on pricing or availability was announced at this time but expect more information on that before long.

Computex is in full swing and with that brings a plethora of new toys for us to enjoy. ASUS today has shown off two new laptops that are sure to please anyone. The new laptops are the Lamborghini VX6 and VX7 and each take advantage of the latest technology available today. The VX6 is an 11.6 inch netbook while the VX7 is a 15.6 inch notebook and each resemble a Lamborghini supercar in the design styles. Each laptop has a chiclet keyboard and Bang & Olfsen ICE power sound system though the internals are what truly set these apart. The smaller VX6 packs a dual-core Atom D525 processor, USB 3.0, and NVIDIA Ion 2 graphics with 512MB VRAM. The VX7 boasts an Intel Core i7 and NVIDIA "enthusiast graphics" though mum's the word on what that will be.

No word on pricing or availability was announced but more information should be forthcoming.

CoolIT Systems has expanded its lineup of liquid cooling solutions with the introduction of four new liquid cooling solutions. At the top end is the ECO ALC 240 features a 240mm optimized radiator with a twin 120mm fan assembly which can be configured in a push or pull orientation. There is also a dual head version, the Dual ECO ALC 240, design for dual processor workstation and server systems. Smaller form factor systems or those with less space can benefit from the ECO 80 ALC and ECO 92 ALC featuring either a 80mm or 92mm fan and radiator. Prices start at $124.99 for the ECO 240 ALC, with the ECO ALC 80 and ECO ALC 92 going for $89.99 and $99.99 respectively.

It's a busy day in the review and hardware news world, especially with Computex 2010 underway in Taipei, where OCC staff member ClayMeow is currently in attendance and providing us with ongoing coverage. We have several cases to look at today including Thermaltake's V3 Black Edition mid-tower chassis (you can check out the OCC review here). There are also several storage items being covered today including external drives, a pair of solid state drives and Seagate's recently released Momentus XT 500GB 2.5" hybrid hard drive (also reviewed by OCC here).

The Federal Communications Commission wants to monitor your internet connection, but not to catch you doing anything illegal. The FCC wants to attach a specialized router to your connection to monitor speed, latency, jitter, and packet loss among others. This is a part of the National Broadband Plan to map internet speed and availability in an attempt to improve internet in the country. The FCC is seeking 10,000 volunteers that have a stable broadband connection, aren't heavy downloaders, and don't have a bandwidth cap. By collecting this data, the FCC hopes to gain valuable information that will help to improve broadband and catch up with other countries in speed, and hopefully price. Volunteers will be able to see all the information collected through a web interface. If you are interested, you can sign up here.

HP has announced today that it is launching three new monitors, one of them using an IPS panel. The HP ZR30w makes use of an S-IPS panel to display 1.07 billion colors which covers the entire sRGB spectrum and 99% of the Adobe RGB spectrum. The monitor is a 30 inch model with a resolution of 2560x1600 and a 3000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. The ZR30w will connect with DisplayPort and DVI-D inputs though no mention was made of how many of either it has. You will also find a 4-port USB hub on the monitor as well as a 6-way adjustable stand that allows you to tilt, swivel, and adjust the height to your liking.

The two other monitors both launch under HP's Compaq family of monitors and are the S1922 and the S2021. The S1922 is an 18.5 inch model while the S2021 is a 20 inch and both come in a 16:9 aspect ratio. The S1922 comes in a resolution of 1366x768 while the S2021 has a resolution of 1600x900. They also have a 5ms response time and a 5000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. Both monitors are designed for small businesses that need an affordable and reliable solution.

The HP ZR30w will launch today with a price of $1,299 while the Compaq's will be more affordable at $125 for the S1922 and $140 for the S2021.

Computex is full of surprises and video card maker Galaxy certainly has a big one. The company has shown off a dual-GPU GTX 470 card. Thats right folks, a dual-GPU card using two GF100 chips. The card is a monster at 12 inches long and it requires two 8 pin PCI-e connectors. You read that right, two 8 pin PCI-e connectors just to make this power hungry beast work. A single GTX 470 has a TDP of 215W so you can imagine that two of them will double that figure to 430W. However, the two 8 pin connectors only supply 150W each and then the PCI-e x16 slot supplies another 75W which brings the maximum yield to 375W. That does not sound like enough juice to make the card work but perhaps Galaxy has downclocked each GPU in order to consume less power which would be one of the only ways to make it work. The card only has 2GB of memory which is far less than the 2.56GB two GTX 470s would use so perhaps the memory interface is only 256-bit to further reduce power usage. All in all though, this card is simply a prototype as NVIDIA has no plans for an official dual-GPU GF100-based card anytime soon.

Lexar has launched its latest Crucial product, a Crucial Ballistix memory kit with a thermal sensor. The thermal sensor coupled with a monitoring utility allow users to view memory module temperatures instantly, helping with overclocking. The new kit also features a redesigned heat spreader with 32 fins for better cooling performance, up to 30% over the current Ballistix design according to Crucial. The new Ballistix memory is only available in a DDR3-1600 4GB (2x2GB) kit. The Crucial Ballistix memory kit with thermal sensor (Product number: BL2KIT25664FN1608) is available exclusively from Newegg for $119.99, with more retailers getting it next month. The temperature-monitoring utility is available free of charge for purchasers of the kit from crucial.com.

Computex 2010 continues its run in Taipei and our roundup includes news from the show. Of course, you can follow OCC's coverage of the show here as OCC staff member ClayMeow brings us all the latest. In videocards we have several reviews looking at the latest cards from NVIDIA and ATI along with a comparison review to see how the two sides stack up against each other. There is a nice collection of reviews in today's roundup so be sure to check them all out using the links posted below.

Bigfoot Networks, the company behind the Killer Gaming Network card, has unveiled a new product at Computex. This new product is the end result of a joint venture with TLU, the company behind the PowerColor brand, as it pairs a graphics card with a network card on one PCB. This GPU/NIC combo card does not have an official name yet but it does utilize a Radeon HD 5000 series GPU so the graphics power should be pretty good. No word on which GPU it uses but the combo card does sport two DVI ports, one HDMI output, and one gigabit Ethernet port. The company hopes that gamers who want or need a graphics upgrade will buy this product which will not only boost your gaming horsepower but help to prioritize what programs receive the most bandwidth which will come in handy during an online match.

There was no mention of a price but Bigfoot Networks is planning on the combo card costing less than the combined amount of a Killer NIC and an HD 5000 GPU. The product is expected to launch within a few months so we should not have that long of a wait to see if this new combo card is worth it.

The folks over at bit-tech seem to have stumbled upon specifications for NVIDIA's new GTX 460 while at Computex. The card will be based on the upcoming GF104 chip and not the current GF100 the 400 series carry. The GTX 460 is essentially going to be half of a GTX 480 with only 768MB of GDDR5 memory and 240 stream processors powering the card, unlike we previously reported. It will be on a 192-bit interface and carry a TDP of 180W. Still a very high number for a card that is aimed to fall in between the ATI HD 5770 and HD 5830 in terms of performance. The GTX 460 will be 8.5 inches long which is the same size as an HD 5770. The launch models for the GTX 460 will all be reference designed with custom versions showing up later. Apparently, the GTX 460 will be capable of reaching the speeds and performance of a GTX 480 though I find that hard to believe. With half the stream processors, I do not think the performance will be able to match the current top dog from NVIDIA.

The card is expected to launch in the early to middle part of July though no word on a price was announced. Hopefully it will be cheaper than the recently launched GTX 465.

In the solid state drive market these days the SandForce SF-1200 controller seems to be the one to beat in terms of performance. ADATA is working with Marvell on its SATA 6G SSD controller and early results on a pre-production version of the drive seem promising with the potential of 400MB/s read performance a real possibility. When it comes to water cooling your CPU, assembling all the components from scratch can be a daunting, and expensive, proposition. CoolIT offers a number of pre-assembled cooling solutions including the ECO A.L.C. (also reviewed be OCC here) that take the hassle out of water cooling.

After a run of two years, Microsoft has announced that it is going to shut down it's Bing Cashback program. The program was initially developed by Jellyfish.com, whom Microsoft bought in 2007, and offered customers a means of getting a rebate on a product searched through Bing. Once you found a vendor from Microsoft's preferred list, you would purchase your item and await for the rebate. Microsoft had hoped for a much larger adoption rate than what it got so the move was made today to close down the Cashback program. The Cashback program will remain active until July 30th and then after that, customers have one year to redeem any cash earned back through their purchases. The Bing Cashback program was a once important part of Microsoft's push to market its search engine as the number one to use with even Bill Gates promoting it. I know there have been several people who have used Bing Cashback on purchases lately so what is your take on the move to shut it down?

Thermaltake has debuted a new line of keyboards at Computex. These keyboards will be branded under the Challenger name and are all mechanical keyboards aimed at gamers. Probably the most unique feature of the entire thing is that it comes with a little 6,000 RPM fan to help cool your hands down while you game. This little fan plugs into the keyboard's top panel and should be sufficient enough to blow a steady stream of cool air on your sweaty fingers. The Challenger line will have three keyboards aimed at different price points but all should have two USB ports and headphone/mic ports as well. The entry-level Challenger will come with 6 macro keys and 32KB of built-in memory to store your macros. The mid-range Challenger Pro will have 10 macro keys and presumably 64KB of built-in memory while the top of the line Challenger Ultimate will have 14 macro keys and 64KB of memory. The Challenger Ultimate is also listed as having 256 backlight options though no mention was made if the other two models will have backlighting as well. I can't see Thermaltake only having one of the keyboards with backlighting so expect the other two to carry it as well, albeit probably not 256 different options.

All the keyboards are expected to retail for under $100 with the Pro expected to cost $65. No word on a launch date was announced at this time.

Back at Google's I/O Conference the company announced Google TV. Google TV is an Android-based software system that will allow much more internet content on your TV through a set-top box. One of the major partners for the project is Logitech which announced its "Harmony Link" technology a few days ago via a blog post. Harmony Link will allow any kind of signal to be received and then interpreted as an IR command. Virtually every remote control uses IR to send a signal and with Harmony Link, Logitech is ensuring full compatibility with any remote control on the market. Now, the sweet thing Logitech is doing is that it is going to launch free apps for Android phones, iPhones, iPads, and the iPod Touch. Logitech has its Harmony 900 remote control which is pretty nifty in that it also uses RF signals to control devices that the IR cannot see. That remote retails for about 300 dollars and with the Harmony Link technology being able to interpret all manner of signals, a free app for your phone or iDevice will give you the power of that 300 dollar remote. Pretty sweet huh?

We have more than enough articles from around the the web to keep you busy today. With Computex 2010 finally over, there is a lot of coverage from our affiliates. Also as part of Computex, Kingston offered tours of its memory factory and we have a pair of articles about the tour. We have a couple of cases being reviewed including the GMC H-80 and the Thermaltake Armor A90 (also reviewed by OCC here). As you can see from the linsk below, there's tons more for you to look at, so sit back, relax and enjoy!

FarmVille and Guitar Hero, two extremely popular games, are coming soon to the iPhone. FarmVille is a Flash based game that dominates Facebook gaming, with roughly 80 million users. The iPhone version will be fully featured and won't require Flash to run. FarmVille will be available on the iPhone at the end of this month, an app that will surely have an explosion of downloads. Guitar Hero is available now for $3 and will bring its strumming controls to the iPhone. The game will feature songs from popular artists such as Queen and Rise Against. It will also features integration with Facebook to share your high scores with friends.

Many of you have probably heard of Energy Star, and you may even have some home appliances that are Energy Star certified. The Environmental Protection Agency has decided to extend this certification to data centers, which use about 1.5% of the total energy in the United States. The EPA hopes that this will give greater incentive to make data centers more efficient by allowing companies to market how "green" they are. To obtain the certification, data centers must be in the top 25% of their peers in energy use. The power usage effectiveness measurement will be used to determine the ranking, measuring how much energy actually reaches IT equipment based on how much is supplied to the data center.

After a few months of rumors and leaks, Apple has officially announced the iPhone 4 at its WWDC 2010 event today. It has a glass front and back with a stainless steel ribbon on every side that helps hold the structure. That ribbon is actually the antenna system for the phone though it uses the same GSM/UMTS signals as the iPhone 3GS. This is not a 4G phone but just the fourth version of the iPhone. The iPhone 4 has two cameras, one on the front and a rear one that gets an LED flash added to it. The camera is now 5 megapixels with a 5x digital zoom and the ability to record in 720p at 30 frames per second.

The display on the phone has seen a nice resolution bump to 960x640 which is four times the amount of pixels as the previous generation. It is rated at 326ppi which Apple claims is beyond the limit of the human eye. Just like the iPad, the iPhone 4 uses an IPS display for the touchscreen that carries a contrast ratio of 800:1. So now not only will you get a high resolution display you are also going to get a gorgeous looking display for your enjoyment. The screen is still the same 3.5 inch size.

The same A4 processor powering the iPad makes its way into the iPhone 4 so the performance should get a nice little bump. With the new processor, the phone will use a slightly larger battery than previous generations which will see usage at 7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of video, and 40 hours of music. The WiFi in the iPhone 4 is now 802.11n which is just nice to see.

On the software side, applications will automatically get high resolution text and buttons with the launch of the new iOS 4. Apple also says that with "a little bit of work" the developers can get the existing applications all to display at the larger resolution. Developers will also get access to a new gyroscope which gives devs "six axis" motion control between the gyroscope, accelerometer, and compass. For consumers, you can take advtange of the camera's new ability to record in HD with an iMovie app though it will set you back $4.99. The front facing camera will use a new "FaceTime" feature that works over WiFi to enable video calling. It will work between two iPhone 4's with no setup required though you can always switch to the rear camera at any time.

The iPhone 4 will be available in white or black on June 24th from AT&T. The 16GB model will cost $199 and the 32GB model $299. AT&T is also going to give a little grace period to upgrade early but it will only be six months before your contract expires. Apple also announced that the 3GS will be lowered to $99 and the 3G will disappear entirely. Pre-orders start in one week and the U.S, the U.K, France, Germany, and Japan will get it at launch while 18 other countries will get it in July.

To go along with the new iPhone, Apple announced that it is renaming the upcoming iPhone OS 4 to iOS 4. There will be roughly 1,500 new features included in iOS 4 along with multitasking, a unified inbox, app folders, and data detectors. Apple is encouraging all its developers to work with the iPhone 4's new high resolution display though iOS 4 will automatically redraw the text and controls for the older iDevices to display correctly. Bing is now a supported search engine along with Google and Yahoo. Google is still the default though I do believe you can switch which one that is.

Apple said that iOS 4 will be launch on June 21st for the iPhone 3G, 3GS, and iPod Touch. Owners of the Touch will also get the new OS for free which is a first for them. Not all features will be supported across the devices however, with owners of the first generation iPod Touch being left out entirely and the iPhone 3G not supporting multitasking.

Intel has asked OCC to help get the word out about 7-year old Kyron Horman, a second grader who went missing at school last Friday. He was last seen by his stepmother heading towards his classroom only 150 feet away. Kyron is the son of an Intel employee and if you have any information on his whereabouts, please call the Multonomah County Sheriff's office at 503-261-2847.

Acer has unveiled the latest refresh in its Aspire One netbook series. The Aspire One 533 features the Intel Atom N455/N475 CPUs, up to 2GB of DDR3 RAM, the Mobile Intel NM10 Express Chipset and the Intel GMA 3150. These enable the Aspire One 533 to perform everyday tasks such emailing and web browsing quickly and easily. The new netbook includes a 10.1" LED back-lit screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio, making it perfect to view high-definition content on. Storage is more than sufficient with up to 250GB of hard drive space. Other connectivity options include an HDMI port, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, a card reader, webcam and microphone. A multi-gesture touchpad and 93% standard-size keyboard allow efficient user control and input. The Aspire One 533 weighs in at just over 1kg, is around 25mm thick, and lasts up to 10 hours on a single charge according to Acer. The Aspire One 533 will be available in black, red or white models from July 1, with pricing still to be finalised.

Thermaltake has made a name for itself in the computer business, partly due to the success of its cooling products. We've seen several Thermaltake coolers come through the review channels this year including two included in today's roundup - the Thermaltake Frio and the Thermaltake SpinQ VT. Moving along to cases, we have a pair of mid-tower units to check out including the NZXT Hades and the Antec Sonata Proto. Make sure you set aside some time to read all the reviews linked below.

The Pulse RSS reader has been removed from the iPad app store at the request of the New York Times. As it is a paid app, costing $4, it violates the Terms of Use of the New York Times website, which prohibits commercial use of its content. Pulse has had over 35,000 downloads and impressed Steve Jobs enough that it was mentioned during the WWDC keynote speech. This could lead to the possibility of more readers being taken down as the good ones are usually paid apps and like to include the Times. The creators plan to work with Apple and remove the Times feed from the app.

Western Digital today has announced a new line of external hard drives that are ideal for Mac users. The new drives are the My Book Studio LX series and feature a brushed aluminum enclosure to match your Mac. The drives feature a FireWire 800 port and a USB 2.0 port to connect to any computer you need to save or transfer files. The My Book Studio LX features WD SmartWare software to offer continuous and automatic backup as well as functionality with Apple Time Machine so you can choose which backup program you want to use. The drives also feature a 256-bit hardware-based encryption to make sure all your files are safe and secure.

Each drive is formatted for Mac and comes in a 1TB or 2TB option. The 1TB model will cost $199 while the 2TB will cost $299 with availability starting today.

Dell today has announced that it's Alienware M11x laptop has gotten a much desired hardware update. Now, the M11x is Alienware's smallest laptop at 11 inches so it technically falls into the netbook line. Alienware is known for high-performance systems and the M11x is no different as it is a netbook that can play games and play them well. The new hardware comes in the form of new Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and NVIDIA Optimus technology. The Core i5 and i7 processors can be overclocked beyond the factory defaults to allow you to get more horsepower from your investment.

The M11x will offer the NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M graphics chip which will use 1GB of of VRAM to help power your games. You will also be able to benefit from NVIDIA PhysX in supported games. The NVIDIA Optimus technology will allow you to switch between the integrated Intel HD GMA and the discrete NVIDIA chip when you want to save battery life or play a demanding game.

The Alienware M11x will be available with the new upgrades starting today. The M11x may be called a netbook but the price certainly is not as it clocks in at $1,799.

Netbooks have taken the mobile market by storm, but there are certainly many compelling reasons to go with a traditional notebook, especially if you are a business user or are looking for a desktop replacement. The two laptops reviewed here today fit the bill for both of those requirements as well as having multimedia capabilities. We have a review of the Sapphire HD5550 Ultimate video card (also reviewed by OCC here) for those looking for a quiet, mainstream card. You can check out the rest of the reviews in today's roundup using the links below.

As I'm sure our international members can attest, being left out of one of the best features that Google has can be kind of a let down. Well for the bulk of you, hopefully, Google has just fixed that. Google announced today that they have added support for 11 new countries to Google Maps. So obviously this is great news for a lot of people "across the pond."

Sony has long been teasing that its 3DTVs would be launching soon but now it is finally official. Sony has announced that its 3DTVs are up for pre-sale at Sony Style stores. There will be about seven 3D LED TVs launched with sizes ranging from 40 inches to 60 inches. Some of the TVs, like the BRAVIA XBR-LX900, will have the 3D sync transmitter built-in as well as including two pairs of active shutter glasses. Models like the BRAVIA XBR-HX909 and KDL-HX800 will need the 3D sync transmitter and glasses purchased at an additional cost which is kind of inconvenient since those are just 3D ready and not 3D integrated. Sony also announced that its Blu-Ray 3D players will be available in stores this July with a 3D firmware hitting the already available Blu-Ray players today.

The prices for the Sony 3DTVs will range from $2,100 to $5,000. No word on availability at other retailers currently but if you have a Sony Style store near you, then you are in luck.

The Playstation Network is down today for some scheduled maintenance and should be back up by 8:30PM PST tonight. Perhaps the maintenance is to prepare the Playstation 3 for the 3D titles that are launching tomorrow. Thats right, the PS3 is getting some 3D games to display on your new 3DTV, possibly even a Sony one. The games that are getting the 3D treatment are Pain, Wipeout HD, Super Stardust HD, and the demo for MotorStorm: Pacific Rift. The upcoming Playstation Move title The Fight: Lights Out will also support 3D when it launches so you can show off your new motion controller with a 3D game. These games will make the PS3 the first game console to support 3D but I just hope the 3D does not look tacked on since these games have already been available for some time. I guess tomorrow will be the first test of it.

The newest official blog post seems to indicate that. The post indicates that there will be a big announcement tomorrow for the game, and several clues point to the Mac version of TF2. Such clues include the white earbuds being sported by the TF2 characters along with the note that the announcement rhymes with "Speem Gortress zmavailable on the Babac." TF2 will join the Half-Life series as those Source games ported to the Mac. If the Half-Life release was any indication, we should be able to expect a sale on TF2.

At the recently concluded Computex 2010 Noctua showed off a series of its upcoming products and prototype designs for new CPU coolers. First up is a new 140mm cooler that makes use of a C-type design which allows for a lower design while still offering excellent component cooling. The unit incorporates six heatpipes and dual NF-P14 FLX 140mm fans which can be used with both fans for maximum performance or with a single fan mounted in either a high or low configuration depending on whether you're looking for maximum clearance or a low-profile mode for minimum height.

Noctua's engineers have been busy producing several prototype designs as well including a pair of D-type coolers and another pair of coolers in a U-type design. Each pair is comprised of 120mm and 92mm sizes. The 120mm D-type cooler uses six heat pipes to offer performance levels close to Noctua's NH-D14 flagship cooler in a smaller size for improved compatibility and can be operated with up to three 120mm fans. The final prototype design is for a 120/80mm dual-fan mode low profile cooler designed for mini-ITX mainboards and small HTPC enclosures. As with the C-type cooler, it's designed to be used in either dual- or single-fan mode depending on the application requirements.

It looks like Noctua had a lot to show off at Computex this year and we look forward to hearing more about these new designs and hopefully getting hold of a few for review purposes.

Titan has announced the Fenrir EVO, TTC-NK85TZ/CS@ (RB), CPU cooler which is a follow-on to the original Fenrir cooler we reviewed last year. The Fenrir EVO has been updated with a powerful fan featuring nine kukri-shaped blades for even quieter operation. The fan is spins at 800-2200 RPM and using the included PWM intelligent fan controller, is rated at <15-<35dBA. The all-in-one socket support makes it compatible with most Intel and AMD systems and should match the original Fenrir's cooling performance while offering a reduced noise signature. Titan expects the Fenrir EVO to become available next month at a yet to be disclosed price.

There are a lot of cases out there to choose from and the mid-tower segment is especially crowded. Thermaltake certainly needs no introduction when it comes to cases and other components and it has updated its lineup with the Armor A90 (also reviewed by OCC here). Solid state drives have managed to proliferate with just about every component manufacturer having at least one product line, if not several. In our roundup today we get a chance to take a virtual tour of A-DATA's Taipei SSD plant as well as an opportunity to check out the Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 128GB drive.

An analyst at Kaufman Brothers thinks that will be the case. The analyst believes that the GSM network of T-Mobile puts it ahead of Verizon to get the iPhone when the exclusivity deal with AT&T runs out. Both the 3GS and 4 models of the iPhone are compatible with the 2100MHz frequency used by T-Mobile, AT&T uses 1900MHz. The CDMA network used by Verizon would require much more modification to work. The analyst feels that the 34 million users of T-Mobile would welcome the iPhone, and that it would help combat the onslaught of Android phones. However, another analyst at J. Gold Associates feels that the much larger install base, marketing budget, and 3G coverage tip the scales in favor of Verizon.

Logitech today has announced some new webcams that can all shoot in high definition. Logitech's top model, the HD Pro C910, offers 720p video calling and 1080p video recording along with Logitech Fluid Crystal technology and one-click HD-uploading to Facebook and Youtube. There will be three other models of HD webcams available to suit any requirement you want with the C510 being designed with portability in mind. That model also features 360 degree rotation to allow you to include more people in your video call though the C510 cannot do 1080p recording, just the 720p calling. The two other models are the C310 and the C270 which will feature 720p video calling and are aimed at people on a budget.

The price for the C910 will be $99, the C510 will be $59, the C310 at $49, and the C270 at $39. All models except for the C910 will be available starting in June in the U.S with Europe and Asia following in July and August. The C910 will be available starting in August in the three territories.

Adobe today has finally made Flash 10.1 an official release. It had been in "release candidate" status since April of this year and it was in beta form since last November, but now it is finally official. Flash 10.1 enables hardware video acceleration on supported platforms though Mac users will have to wait for the "Gala" release before they can enjoy that element. "Gala" can be downloaded in "release candidate" form with the final version coming before long.

You can download Flash 10.1 directly from Adobe's website for your Windows or Mac computer and from the Android Market on your Android 2.2 device.

The World Cup may not generate as much interest in North America as in other parts of the world, but ECS has announced a giveaway contest tied in with the World Cup which should peek the interest of computer enthusiasts, even if you're not a soccer, er I mean football, fan. Open to residents of the United States and Canada, ECS is offering the chance to win one of 4 great computer components including a NVIDIA GeForce GTX480. In addition, ECS will be giving away 10 Black Series ECS soccer jerseys, giving away two every week of the World Cup from June 11 – July 11, 2010. Be sure to head on over to the ECS contest site to sign up for a chance to win.

Sapphire and Loaded, the North American professional gaming organization, today announced their partnership that will provide Loaded with the latest in hardware technology ranging from HD 500-series graphics cards to top of the line Sapphire motherboards. In addition, Sapphire will take advantage of the partnership to give fans the chance to win great prizes from Loaded contests throughout the year and will provide fans with the opportunity to take advantage of the promotions from their SAPPHIRE Select Club.

"Loaded has spent the past months in search for the right sponsor to fullfill our needs and really show off the value of the Loaded organization," said Brandon Freytag, Chief Executive Officer of Loaded, LLC. "Bringing Sapphire aboard is a big win for us. We always look to be #1 and now we have the backing of the #1 ATI provider in the world. Sapphire has many great products from graphic cards to motherboards and most notably a new Sapphire Select Club. We are very excited to sport all of the new Sapphire products for all our pro gamers. Stay tuned for many exciting giveaways and contest surrounding the Sapphire brand!"

It looks like the attack of the mice in today's roundup as we have reviews on offerings from NZXT and Mionix along with an article looking at 12 different units. To round things out there's a review covering the WoW and AION mousepads from SteelSeries. We also have a review on the NZXT Hades mid-tower case (also reviewed by OCC here). So, as we head into the weekend take a moment to enjoy all the best from our affiliates around the web by following the links below.

Intel is evidently planning to updates its fastest CPU, the Core i7 980X, in the fourth quarter of this year. The new flagship will be called the Core i7 990X and should replace the 980X at the $999 price point. It will have an unlocked multiplier and six cores just like the 980X and a bump in clock speed to 3.46GHz potentially, though no official word came out on the actual clock speed of the chip.

Intel is also planning on releasing a Core i7 970 as a "cheap" six core processor in the third quarter but it is expected to launch just below $600. When the 990X hits in the following quarter, the 970 could see a lowering of price with another six core known as the 980 launching at the ~$600 area. The 980 will have a locked multiplier, just like the 970, but it will have a clock speed of 3.33GHz.

All of this seems a bit confusing especially with Intel's Sandy Bridge expected to launch in 2011. With the i7 getting a refresh so close to the launch of Sandy Bridge, it seems like the 990X will remain the flagship model since the Sandy Bridge parts at launch will be limited to quad cores.

Well, it seems that the venerable Windows XP is slowly coming to an end as Microsoft has announced that no new netbooks will use it after October 22nd. However, it seems the operating system could disappear before that date as Microsoft stated that 81% of all netbooks sold as of this past April have shipped with some form of Windows 7 installed. Whether it is Windows 7 Starter or Home Premium, it seems that the new OS is gaining quick ground in the netbook market. There should still be some netbooks that use Windows XP out there, so if you want to use that then try to grab one of those while you can before this October.

The latest chapter for the most notorious of vaporware is over. The lawsuit between Take-Two Interactive and 3D Realms over Duke Nukem Forever has been settled. The lawsuit has been dismissed and cannot be brought up again by either party. The lawsuit centered around a breach of contract due to the continuing delays in releasing the game, which still hasn't been released. No details regarding compensation, financial or otherwise, were mentioned. I just want to know if the game will ever be released.

The recent decision by Apple to change the wording of its developer agreement for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch could land the company in some hot water. The new wording essentially prohibits developers from using the AdMob network, which coincidentally was recently purchased by Google. With the increasing presence of smartphones and other handheld devices, mobile advertising in apps is big money. By banning AdMob from its products, Apple could be severely hindering the profits of Google.